I must have first heard Acker ('really ‘Bernard Stanley’) Bilk’s Stranger on the Shore when watching the BBC TV children’s series, Stranger on the Shore and Stranger in the City during the early 60s.
No matter how often I hear Acker (Somerset dialect for ‘mate’) play his marvellous piece, it evokes that feeling of drifting and semi-isolation we all experience wherever and whenever we are away from familiar surroundings.
Bilk wrote his famous work as an instrumental piece and it’s a great setting for his skill as a jazz clarinettist.
I’m not sure if I entirely like the lyrics written by Robert Mellin but as this site’s all about poetry I post them here as part of a tribute to a wonderful musician whose work helped to form the backdrop to my growing up.
“Stranger on the Shore
“Here I stand, watching the tide go out
So all alone and blue
Just dreaming dreams of you“I watched your ship
As it sailed out to sea
Taking all my dreams
And taking all of me“The sighing of the waves
The wailing of the wind
The tears in my eyes burn
Pleading, "My love, return"“Why, oh, why must I go on like this?
Shall I just be a lonely
Stranger on the Shore?“The sighing of the waves
The wailing of the wind
The tears in my eyes burn
Pleading, "My love, return"
Why, oh, why must I go on like this?
Shall I just be a lonely
Stranger on the shore?”
© Natalie Wood (03 November 2014)
1 comment:
beautiful!
Post a Comment